Could you please help save the baby whale stranded in Sydney Harbour??

Question

Please email the Australian consulate in your country and tell them that they MUST do all they can to save the baby whale.

My government is sitting waiting for a two week old orphaned whale to starve to death. It is suckling the hulls of yachts moored in Pittwater it is so hungry. The US saved another type of whale in a situation like this last year so it is possible. But my govt will do nothing unless they get a kick up the whatsit!

Please help the whale. It is so sad!! It is a humpback. What hypocrites we Australians are. We rail at Japan for killing whales and then let one starve to death while we watch!

Please help or give ideas here as to who might help

Answer 1

They are trying to save it:

THE Defence Force has agreed to supply a fuel bladder on which Colin the abandoned baby whale could be towed to sea - the latest here

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,242...

Answer 2

OK little miss know it all, how do you propose the govt saves the whale?

Don't have a go at the government, do you honestly expect Rudd to go there and hand feed the whale himself. They are now considering euthanasia which would actually be in the whales best interest, its distressed and starving, end its misery.

There is nothing we can do, the whale will not survive in the wild and is too big to survive in captivity.

Answer 3

A team of marine biologists have already determined that even if the whale was fed formula, it wouldn't survive. Its too old now, with too diverse a set of dietary requirements to survive off anything but its mother's milk. Yet too young for hunt by itself. Its in a deadly age limbo.

Whales die in nature all the time, its the nature of life. You don't see it so you don't care.

This is a classic case of "out of sight, out of mind". Get over it.

Answer 4

If you had researched this issue properly, instead of getting sentimental about it, you would know tha whale is going to die anyway. Sad, but that's life.  

Answer 5

I cannot believe how cruel some of these comments are.  It is a shame that some chose to conduct themselves in such a way that does little to display any compassion or integrity.

"Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.'

Albert Einstein

Answer 6

only way to save it is to have big whale titties for it to feed from

I don't do YOU?

Answer 7

They should help it by quickly putting it out of it's misery since there is no way that they are going to successfully raise that thing to adulthood and reunite it with it's peers.

Answer 8

Apparently the mother abandoned it because the poor baby whale was injured.. Thats what I heard on the news before, but I probably heard wrong.

That happens alot in the wild..

And they are doing everything they can to save it. There isnt really much they can do,  its not that easy you know. Theres a pod of whales coming, so they're probably going to wait and see if those whales adopt the stranded whale.

Yes, it happened in the US before, and they saved it..

And hey, dont call us Australians hypocrites.. The japanese chose to kill whales. We didnt chose a baby whale to get stranded. How are people going to feed the poor thing? It needs its mother. How is the government going to get the poor baby whale to a mother whale?

You go save it, if you think its that easy.

EDIT: I did research on that whale that was saved in America, that was a totally different situation.. Do your research please.. The government is doing everything they can to try and save the whale, but its near impossible unless another pod of whales come by, and adopt the poor baby and give him whales milk.. Do you see anyone with huge whale b***s in our country? No, i didnt think so..

Answer 9

Your (and my) Government is not sitting idly by waiting for the whale to die!! They are looking at all the available options, if any.  If you did your research properly you'd know that the baby whale saved in the US was in quite a different situation.

What are you doing to save all the cute, cuddly, little calves and lambs that are being slaughtered by Australian abattoirs every day?  Oh sorry, did I put you off your hamburger!

EDIT: There is a danger in moving the calf to a marine amusement park etc as it could well be carrying a disease.  That is one reason authorities feel it could have been abandoned.  It would be cruel and unethical to risk spreading any known or unknown disease to creatures already located in these contained environments.

Another problem is that humpback whales are more solitary than other whale species, do not normally travel in pods, and do not associate with other whales.  Female humpbacks are only likely to adopt an orphan if they are pining for a calf that's been lost.  So it's highly unlikely that any whale in a marine park would be willing to adopt this one.

I'm pleased to see you're vegetarian and Buddhist.  Your original post didn't give any indication of this, hence my comment.  It's becoming all too common for people to become emotive over a single situation like this, totally oblivious to the fact that they will munch on a bacon sandwich or lamb chop without a second thought.

BTW I'd be interested to know what kind of shoes you wear, particularly when bushwalking.  What are the options if you choose not to wear any leather at all?  I'm just curious, not trying to be judgemental.

Answer 10

The problem is that the whale and its mother are separated.  As far as anyone knows, that was an entirely natural occurrence.  It probably happens several times every year.  The only reason this occurrence is different is that the baby wandered into Broken Bay and decided a yacht looked like its mother.  While it is sad that any creature dies stuff like that happens.  If it wasn't on TV you would know nothing about it.

And apart from anything else, every marine biologist I have heard on the subject has said that the only way that this whale will survive is by meeting up with his mother or another whale that will act as a surrogate.  Artificial feeding is effectively impossible, and even if it was possible weaning the whale is also effectively impossible.